Chapter 1: Forced Marriage
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"I do," Julian said mechanically. This wasn't love—it was a business transaction, plain and simple.
After the ceremony, guests raised their champagne flutes in celebration. None of them knew the ugly truth behind our marriage.
Three months earlier, my father had collapsed from a sudden heart attack. Lin Group plummeted into financial ruin, desperately needing an influx of capital to survive.
My father approached Julian, the ruthless CEO of Hayes Group, with a proposition: invest in Lin Group and in exchange, take me as his wife.
"Dad, you can't be serious!" I cried, my voice breaking. "This isn't the Middle Ages!"
"This is for the family, and for you," my father said firmly. "You've been infatuated with him since college. Isn't this what you've always wanted?"
I stood there, mouth agape. Yes, I'd nursed a hopeless crush on Julian since college, but he'd never even glanced my way.
The night before the wedding, Julian cornered me in the hallway.
"Let's get one thing straight," he said, voice cutting like a blade. "This marriage is purely business. Two years, the company stabilizes, we divorce. Until then, expect nothing from me."
I nodded, blinking back tears. Maybe, just maybe, living together would make him see me—really see me.
At the reception, Julian worked the room like the CEO he was, while I might as well have been invisible. When guests congratulated him, his smile never reached those arctic eyes.
After the reception, Julian walked me to our suite, paused at the threshold. "I have work. Don't wait up." Then he was gone.
The moment the door clicked shut, I crumpled onto the bed, mascara-stained tears soaking into the silk duvet.
This was a far cry from the fairy tale I'd imagined, but I clung to a desperate hope—with enough time and patience, I might thaw that frozen heart.
What I couldn't see was Julian standing by the penthouse window, slipping off his wedding band and tossing it onto the desk with a hollow clink.
"Two years," he whispered to the city lights below. "Just two damn years."
